Splitting hairsThe battle for the Sunday reader |
New City Press and Sunday Independent editors lift the broadsheet game.
EAST LONDON - It's been a long while since the Sunday broadsheet market - the glamour boys of the newspaper industry - was so interesting.
Fifteen years ago Rapport and the Sunday Times fought aggressively over white readers. Then the Sunday Times, which is still the biggest Sunday paper in the country, repositioned under Mike Robertson's editorship to go upmarket and sowed up the growing black middle- and upper-income groups. Round about the same time, Independent Newspapers launched the Sunday Independent that positioned itself as the high-end paper of analysis but, in recent years, the paper fell into the doldrums as it was run on a shoestring with a handful of fulltime staff.
Now, the Sunday broadsheet market is hotting up again, with Naspers's Media24 and Independent Newspapers making aggressive plays for more market share. Media24 now has Ferial Haffajee, the highly regarded former Mail & Guardian editor, at the helm of City Press - and the paper is moving upmarket - while there is a definite change in the wind at Independent Newspapers. Not only does the Sunday Independent have a fulltime editor and deputy editor for the first time in many years but the company has also invested in a group investigative unit and an inhouse training unit for young journalists.
After getting their costs down through retrenchments, it seems that both Media24 and Independent Newspapers have spotted that the Sunday Times is in a vulnerable position. Avusa, the owners of the Sunday Times, is likely to be distracted over the next financial year by having to get costs under control as the company has lagged behind its rivals on this score. Further, the Sunday Times has lost its "unique selling position" as THE agenda setter of the country's media. It hasn't been able to do this consistently for the past year although things have been looking up since the start of this year, most notably with the Jacob Zuma "Babygate" story.
Makhudu Sefara, who was appointed the new editor of the Sunday Independent five months ago, says the paper has picked up 4 000 extra sales from an average of about 31 000 in September last year. (The audited ABC circulation figures for the last quarter of 2009 will be out in early March.)
It may be off a relatively small base but there isn't a newspaper editor in the country who would turn their nose up at such an increase in a market where most declined amid the recession of the past year. It is also clear that Independent Newspapers is investing in the title again. Sefara now has a fulltime deputy, Mpumelelo Mkhabela from the Sunday Times, and is sending out job ads for more staff to be hired in the new financial year. The paper has been breaking some good stories, such as the Nathi Mthethwa Durban hotel bill saga and for the first time ever, the title has a dedicated sales person.
Sefara may have hit on a promising formula: Breaking big political stories on the front page sells newspaper in this country.
Sefara says he also plans to up the paper's ability to break news stories and introduce a more investigative feel while keeping the high-end analysis of South African and world politics. The Sunday Independent's international copy (courtesy of being part of the Irish-based Independent News & Media) is rather hard to beat.
"Of course, it's a constant struggle to look at what works and what doesn't work, what must be retained and what must be thrown out the window and, if you are throwing it out, how many readers are going out with it," says Sefara. "If you're introducing something new, (you ask) to how many people is this going to be relevant. It's a constant to and fro. But, ja, so far it's looking good and we're hoping to maintain the momentum... Towards the end of the year, we should be chasing 40 000 to 45 000 (sales)."
While the Sunday Independent looks likes it is finding its mojo again, City Press is steadily sharpening up under Haffajee. Her aim for the next year is to hit the 200 000 sales mark. The paper was at 183 985 audited ABC figures in the third quarter of 2009. (By comparison, the Sunday Times was last at 491 430 audited ABC sales.)
"My brief from the board is very clear," says Haffajee, who took over as editor in July last year. "They want to reposition City Press while retaining that which the readers like. So we want to move it up the market; not right into the Financial Mail/Mail & Guardian space at all - but to play in about LSM (living standards measure) 7-10. At the moment we're spread into LSM 5 and up to 10."
The key challenge for Haffajee is to reposition the paper while not alienating too many of its existing readers though she says both she and the Media24 board are aware that they may lose some. Under previous editor Mathatha Tesdu (who also did a short stint as the Sunday Times editor), City Press had very strong distinct Africanist identity. It was very heavy on politics and already you can see that Haffajee has lightened it up and introduced new elements to the content mix.
Media24 is clearly investing in the title and City Press will start filling the key positions among its 15 vacancies in the new financial year (no one at the paper took up the voluntary retrenchment packages offered by the company earlier this year) and a redesign is in the works. A fresh new, updated look will come later this year.
Haffajee also has the newly set-up Media24 investigations unit led by Jacque Pauw in her arsenal. City Press has already done well out of the unit, with the story of Schabir Shaik's lifestyle late last year.
"I've had to bed down my team, work out a strategy, define a content path that's going to be unique to us and get buy-in for us," says Haffajee. "My philosophy is that news must lead and unlike the US or Europe, we're not yet (in SA) in a place where newspapers are only a place for analysis or explanation because the public broadcaster is still quite weak and TV and radio tends to follow print.
"So I'm news driven and am trying to instill in our team that every page has to have a significant news break,... to be quite agenda setting and at the same time that every page has something pleasurable or funny or beautiful to read or look at because that's the nature of Sunday."
The moves at City Press and the Sunday Independent means that the Sunday Times will be under pressure in the next year and Moneyweb hopes to talk to the Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya next week. More significantly, it means that we, the readers, will have a better read on Sundays as the competition will lift everyone's game.
*Media columnist Gill Moodie spent 14 years as a salaried hack in print media in South Africa and the UK before escaping to the blogosphere and freelance journalism. She is the publisher of Grubstreet http://grubstreet.co.za/ in between unpacking and packing the infernal dishwasher and bringing up a four-year-old with attitude.
ADD YOUR COMMENT
 |
Price and trade data source: JSE Ltd. All other statistics calculated by Profile Data. |
 |